M1 Concourse aims to be ‘preeminent motorsports venue’ with X Center

Pontiac — Pontiac’s auto manufacturing heyday is in the rearview mirror, but a host of new businesses are revving up development. Famed aviation engine manufacturer Williams Engineering has moved its headquarters to town along with the 6,500-plus workforce of Pontiac’s largest employer, United Shore, while Amazon’s Fulfillment Center is a beehive of activity on the former Silverdome site.

On Tuesday, Michigan’s premier motorsports club, M1 Concourse, added to the buzz when it broke ground on its $30 million, 22,000-square-foot M1 X Center that will bring family-focused KTO kart racing, simulators and dining to its sprawling 87-acre Woodward Avenue facility.

“Our purpose is to create the preeminent motorsports venue in the country,” said CEO Paul Zlotoff in an interview after plunging his shovel into the earth. “I am not originally from here, and we’ve had very little to see in the Motor City from a motoring perspective. One of my objectives was to create something so when people come to visit and ask — what is cool about the Motor City? — then you can say, I know just where to take you.”

M1 Concourse opened in 2016, rising from the ashes of a past General Motors facility that has been sold out of the General’s 2009 reorganization. The private auto club sports member garages — stuffed with exotic cars from Porsches to Ferraris to 1,400-horsepower GT1s — that border the 1.5-mile racetrack much like a golf club course. The track is available for members to exercise their toys.

But M1’s ambitions have always been much greater.

The facility has become a center of southeast Michigan car culture with an array of public events including Roadkill Nights and the Woodward Dream Show in August, American Speed Festival in October and multiple Cars ‘n’ Coffee events throughout the year.

“X Center is transformative because we’re going to have something that is open seven days a week, 12 months a year, where the public can come and have all kinds of different experiences,” said Zlotoff.

X Center will be at the southeast corner of M1’s campus at the intersection of Woodward and South Boulevard – just ½ mile north of Trinity Health Oakland Hospital and a mile east of United Wholesale Mortgage’s headquarters.

“To me this is the most exciting part of M1 and bringing it to fruition fulfills the initial promise of M1,” said Pontiac Mayor Tim Greimel at the groundbreaking. “With its restaurant and go-kart center, this dynamic facility will be open to the public without a membership. It will bring people from all over the region to Pontiac.”

The new facility, due to open in the summer of 2026, is adjacent to M1’s Event Center, which opened in 2021 and hosts the venue’s major auto-paloozas as well as private events.

“Last year we had over 250 events and one of the first things that any event planner asks is: what can we do?” said Zlotoff. “Well, now, we’ve amped that up by a factor by 10. We can bring you over to the X Center and you can go simulator racing, to the slot-car track, and we can get you into the KTO racer. That is unlike anything else.”

A modern, aluminum-accented building will house three floors of activities with a $20 gate fee similar to, say, the Henry Ford Museum. Activities include an eight-station simulator track complete with Oculus Virtual Reality headsets (also similar to the Henry Ford’s “Driven to Win” display) so participants can compete on the world’s greatest race tracks. In addition to the race simulators, attendees will have access to golf and shooting simulators. Slot car enthusiasts will thrill to large tracks, and the Apex Grille will occupy the top floor.

The restaurant will be the creation of Roberta and Justin Dalenberg’s Grow Hospitality food company, which has developed multiple eateries in the state, including Grand River Brewery in Clawson, Brighton, Jackson, and Marshall; Irene’s in Grand Blanc, North Channel Brewery in Manistee and Doll n’ Burgers in Jackson and Tecumseh.

The restaurant will feature a balcony overlooking the X Center’s main attraction: the illuminated, multi-turn, 5.8-mile high-speed KTO Race Track complete with the X Center’s custom-built electric kart. With front and rear brakes, larger wheels, mature handling and 62 mph top speed, the KTO behaves more like a small race car than an amusement park kart and will require training to operate.

The KTO experience will be available to families with a $150 club membership. The track includes a pit area, driver’s lounge and classrooms. The KTOs will also be available to buy and store at the X Center’s garages.

“It’s a new paradigm; we don’t like to describe it as a go kart,” said Zlotoff of the racer developed by Auburn Hills-based Prefix, an auto industry prototype supplier. “It’s the first of its kind with a swappable battery.”

M1’s $230 million investment in Pontiac since its founding is part of a sports and entertainment expansion that includes the UWM Sports Complex, Wessen Indoor Tennis and an amphitheater planned for downtown. The amphitheater is part of a development that will house 600 county employees.

“The ‘X’ stands for experience — and that’s exactly what we’re creating,” said Zlotoff. “I’ve always said we have to build a valid economic model because there are many race tracks that are closing around this country. They are gone because they didn’t have — at their core — an economic foundation that worked.”

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.